Malala Yousafzai tells teenage girls on International Women’s Day to stop
relying on their elders to solve issues, and get involved in women’s rights
through Twitter and Instagram

Malala Yousafzai has told teenagers to stop using social media to post pictures and get ‘likes’, and start using it to highlight women’s issues.

Speaking at the Women of the World (WOW) festival at the Southbank Centre today, Malala said: “I don’t use Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, it needs time, but it’s my message to every teenager that this is a great way for you to raise the issues that children are facing, of child trafficking, or FGM.

“Don’t use it just to post pictures and then comment on it and get likes or followers.”

The Pakistani schoolgirl, 16, was talking on International Women’s Day, and said that British teenagers could use social medial to raise awareness about global issues and gender equality.

She said: “[Teenagers should] use these resources in a good way as a source of highlighting the problems that women are facing.

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“I’m not against [social media] because you need some time to enjoy [things], but if you use it in a good way, it can highlight issues that girls are facing in India and in Pakistan.

“It would be great for them because they know that someone is speaking out for them.”

Malala, who start campaigning for girls’ right to an education in Pakistan when she was just 11, added that the young people should stop relying on their elders to solve issues.

She said: “We shouldn’t be marginalised, we shouldn’t have that generation gap. We should try to understand each other.

“I think the young generation is the future, and why not build it up now? Sometimes we’ll leave it to the elders and think it’s their job … but we should say, no we want a future that’s bright and we want to speak for our rights.”

Malala also spoke about her disappointment in coming to the UK more than a year ago to recover after being shot by the Taliban, to find that the “modern” country still had a sizeable gender gap in its Parliament.

She said: “I was quite surprised that here women are given rights. But when you go into depth, you hear that there are only 22 per cent or less [women] in Parliament and the CEOs of big companies [are] mainly men, you realise it’s far better than other countries, but there’s still so much that needs to be done.”

Malala, who is currently revising for her GCSEs exams, added that it is her “dream” to go into politics, but she would prefer to go back to her home country of Pakistan, to work in the Swat Valley.